Air-brake.



No. 767,476. PATENTED AUG. 16, 19.04. W. M. FULTON.

AIR BRAKE.

APPLIOATION FILED MAB. 1a, 190s.

I ml% NTM! l".

Patented August 16, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT O'EEicE.

WESTON M. FULTON, OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE.

AIR-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 767,476, dated August 16, 1904.

Application filed March 18, 1903. Serial No. 148 338. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, IVEsToN M. FULTON, a resident of Knoxville, Tennessee, have inventcd a new and useful Improvement in Air- Brakes, which invention is fully set forth in the following specification.

This invention relates to air-brakes for use on railway and other cars, and particularly to the part corresponding to the brake-cylinder mechanism thereof, and has for its objects to provide a construction which shall avoid the leakage due to the packing of the piston and piston-rods in the brake-cylinder, to cheapen the construction, and do away with the necessity for lubrication of the moving' parts of the brake-cylinder.

With these objects in view the invention consists in providing an extensible chamber', preferably of cylindrical form, to which the brake-rod which actuates the brake-shoe levers is attached,which chamber communicates with the usual auxiliary reservoir through the triple valve or other valve-governing mechanism.

The inventive idea involved may receive various mechanical expressions, one of which is shown in the accompanying drawing, which is a vertical longitudinal section of the improved expansible and collapsible brake-cylinder, showing a. portion of the auxiliary reservoir. y

Referring to the drawing, l is the usual or any preferred form of auxiliary reservoir, firmly attached to the car, and 2 `is an expansible and collapsible chamber, preferably cylindrical in form and provided with rigid end walls 3 and 4. The exible portion of the cylinder 2 is preferably composed of exible sheet metal, though any other suitable material may be employed, the material not being of the essence of the invention. These collapsible walls are composed of a series of sections substantially parallel to each other and at right angles to the 'line of collapse of the cylinder or chamber, said parallel portions being connected by curved portions free from angular forms. Such curved portions may be either simple or compound curves, simple curves being shown in the drawing as illuschamber, forms also the end wall of the auxiliary reservoir l, as is customary in air-brake construction, andthe air-conduit 5 leads from the triple valve (not shown) to the port 6 in the brake-cylinder head.

Rigid heads 3 and 4 are preferably indented, as shown, so that when the vessel is in its collapsed conditionv the end walls 3 and 4 lic close to cach other, and the brake-rod 7,which actuates the brake-levers and corresponds to the piston-rods of the ordinary structure, is attached to the rigid end 4, as shown. v This connection may be either rigid or pivoted, as desired, and it is here shown as attached by a pivoted connection at 8. The iiexibility of the vessel, however, would render it entirely practicable to eliminate the pivotal connection and connect the brake-rod 7 directly and rigidly to the cylinder-head 4.

The operation of the device will be readily understood. Air being admitted through conduit 5 and port 6 into the brake-cylinder, the same expands longitudinally, the iiexible Walls readily yielding under the internal pressure, and by reason of the peculiar construction thereof this yielding both in the expansion and the subsequent collapse of the vessel is secured without any cracking or severe strains thereon. The movement of the rigid wall 4 due to the expansion of the vessel actuates the brake-shoes through the brake-rods 7 and intermediate levers. When the brakes are released, the air within the brake-cylinder escapes via the conduit 5 and the usual opening in the triple valve, and the elasticity of the flexible walls of the brakef cylinder causes the vessel to collapse, thereby releasing the tension upon the brake-shoes.

It will be readily understood that while I have referred to the chamber 2 as the brakecylinder7 I merely employ the technical phrase in the art and that it is not at all necessary that the chamber should be cylindrical in form, as any desirable form in cross-section could be employed without departing from the spirit of my invention. I prefer, however, to form the vessel cylindrical in cross-section, asin this form it is most readily manufactured and may be most readily applied to the usual form of auxiliary reservoirs.

It will also be understood that the expansion and contraction of the brake-cylinder takes place along the axial line of the cylinder-that is, along the line between the rigid end walls 3 and 4. Furthermore, while said end walls are here shown as depressed or deeply intended they may be plane surfaces or have any other preferred form. The indented or depressed form shown, however, has the advantage of compactness and is the form which I prefer.

Having described my invention, what I claim isY l. In an air-brake, an auxiliary reservoir combined with a brake-cylinder having rigid end walls connected by flexible sheet-metal walls, one of said rigid end walls being rigidly secured to said auxiliary reservoir.

2. In an air-brake, the combination of an auxiliary reservoir, a brake-cylinder having rigid end walls connected by flexible sheetmetal walls one of said rigid end walls being rigidly secured to the auxiliary reservoir and the other having a brake-rod connected thereto.

3. In an air-brake, a brake-cylinder having rigid indented end walls connected by collapsible sheet-metal walls, one otl said rigid indented walls forming also an end wall or head of the auxiliary reservoir and the other rigid indented end wall being connected to the brake-rod.

In testimony whereof I have signed this speciiication in the presence of two subscribingI witnesses.

VESTQN M. FUL'IGN.

Vitnesses:

J. WV. CURRIER, C. R. Bunnies. 

